Society would not be where it is today without the advancement of technology. It plays a major factor in some lives of Americans. If it is used for work or even just for entertainment people use technology every day. But, should textbooks be replaced by tablets in schools? Although some Americans believe that textbooks are a more useful tool for learning, tablets are a better alternative because they won’t cause any back injuries injuries and students will be more interactive during class.

Some Americans believe that the number one way of learning is reading straight from a textbook. The people who believe that textbooks are a better way of learning will say textbooks don’t cause any distractions like email notifications or text notifications popping up or even ads at the bottom of the page advertising the newest app. Also, tablets require internet most of the time and some people don’t have access to it. As stated by find the best, “The average battery life for a tablet is 7.26 hours (less than a school day.” Not only does the battery wear down, the tablet can crash or freeze by having too many apps open at one time. Or even or not letting the tablet load and clicking multiple times will confuse the tablet causing it to freeze. Also, viruses can cause the tablet to crash. What happens then? You have to waste time and money getting it fixed. So are tablets the best thing to have in K-12 schools? Some Americans may believe they aren’t the best thing for kids but others think that it will majorly improve education.

But, on the other hand tablets can hold hundreds of textbooks in a single tablet. Tablets typically range from 8-64 gigabytes so the more gigabytes you have the more textbooks you can store on them. Also, by using tablets it decreases the amount of paper teachers have to print and new textbooks being printed. This can save the environment and save a lot of money. Instead of having to cut down trees to make paper for handouts, textbooks, homework, etc. Tablets will decrease the amount of paper therefore, save more trees. Students tend to read more books because they have easy access to new books and can download them right to the tablet.

In addition, textbooks can be extremely heavy especially if you have to carry multiple textbooks every day. Having multiple textbooks can cause your back to hurt and cause you to have back problems in the future. Many students have to carry anywhere from 1-3 textbooks every day to their classes. Majority of students put their textbooks in their backpack and having to carry that all around school can be hard on your back. Tablets typically only weigh around one to two pounds. As stated by Tom Mendelsohn, “Tablets allow teachers to customize learning.” Every teacher is going to have lesson plans, but what if the lesson plan doesn’t have specific worksheets of the specific topic their students are struggling with. Also, another upside to having a tablet is you can send files or documents from one tablet to another, or they can even be downloaded, which allows you to have easier access to classwork, homework, etc. By using tablets kids will want to become more interactive during class. Instead of reading from a boring old textbook, students will actually have fun while learning. With multiple games they can play that teaches you about the topic. Also, they can even make flashcards to study from instead of having to write out 50 at a time.

In conclusion, tablets should replace textbooks in K-12 schools because tablets won’t cause back injuries and students will become more interactive during class. Although, tablets have their downsides such as distractions or your tablet crashing or freezing. Overall they are better for society. They will majorly improve education and learning in K-12 schools. Also, tablets will decrease the amount of back injuries that occur each year from heavy textbooks. Finally, by using tablets it will decrease the amount of paper teachers have to print for homework and handouts. When textbooks go out of date new ones have to be printed and there is at least 25 kids in each class from kindergarten through twelve grade times 50 schools in one state. That is a lot of paper just for one school. Not having to print all of that paper will help save the environment but saving trees from being cut down. Tablets should replace textbooks in K-12 schools.